New Delhi:
India will look to get back to winning ways when they take on West Indies in the second ODI of the three-match series on Wednesday in Visakhapatnam. The visitors won the first match as Indian bowlers were unable to defend 287 on a slow track in Chennai. The focus will be on India to get their bowling combination right.
"We thought six bowling options will be good enough, specially with the pitch being slow and Kedar as an option...I think the ball wasn't holding enough for the fast bowlers," Kohli had said after the loss.
With the par-score at the ACA-VDCA stadium set to be in the 320-plus range, a fifth specialist bowling option could be mulled upon considering the plight the hosts faced in the last game with Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope beautifully planning the chase with their respective hundreds.
The biggest reason for the setback in Chennai was spinners Ravindra Jadeja (0/58 in 10 overs) and Kuldeep Yadav (0/45 in 10 overs) being rendered ineffective.
Hope and Hetmyer didn't murder the attack but did enough during the middle overs to ensure 103 runs came without taking any adventurous route.
They chose their bowlers perfectly and as a result, debutant Shivam Dube leaked 68 runs in 7.5 overs, indicating that he is certainly a "work in progress" as far as his bowling is concerned.
However, it's a tricky path for India to tweak their playing XI considering what exactly they have in their reserves.
They have Mayank Agarwal, the reserve opener, who is unlikely to get a chance as Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul are set at the top. Then they have Manish Pandey, the reserve middle-order batsman, who can only be replaced at No 6 in place of Jadhav. And Jadhav did nothing wrong in Chennai, scoring 40 off 33 balls with his typical 'chip and charge' game.
If that's the case then they will have to go for a specialist fifth bowler -- either seamer Shardul Thakur or leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. The axe may fall on one of the two all-rounders, Dube or Ravindra Jadeja. Dube was sent to bat at No.8 in the last game and might not get to bat here irrespective of whether India bat first or second. In that case, Shardul could be an option as Jadeja's experience in all departments is a necessity.
For the West Indies, Hetmyer has undoubtedly been one of their key performers and getting his wicket will be the key for the Indian team.
West Indies' pacers were also on the money as Sheldon Cotterell and a fit-again Alzarri Joseph did a good job both at the beginning and the back-end of the Indian innings.
Keemo Paul also did his bit and the West Indies pace attack could be lauded for using a lot of variations including the slower deliveries to good effect. But on a true pitch like Visakhapatnam, it will be a different challenge for the pace troika.
India vs West Indies Teams
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Shami, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mayank Agarwal, Shardul Thakur, Manish Pandey.
West Indies: Kieron Pollard (captain), Sunil Ambris, Shai Hope, Khary Pierre, Roston Chase, Alzarri Joseph, Kieron Pollard (Captain), Sheldon Cottrell, Brandon King, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Romario Shepherd, Jason Holder, Keemo Paul, Hayden Walsh Jr.
